AARP survey finds majority against cuts to Medicare

AARP Iowa released survey of older Iowans’ attitudes on health policy in response to the health care plan passed by the U.S. House earlier this year.

The Senate version makes only modest changes — and makes deep cuts to Medicaid, which 79 percent of those surveyed oppose. AARP’s associate state director Anthony Carroll says the federal program helps more than just low-income people.

Carroll says, “When it comes to long-term care, nursing-home care, assisted living, home-health care, the majority of those expenses unless it’s after a limited hospital stay when Medicare pays it, Medicaid is paying those bills.” Eighty-eight percent of those surveyed are against any cuts or premium increases for Medicare.

Carroll says older people use the federal program for long-term and nursing-home care. “When you’re talking about, for instance, nursing home care, which can be more than $10,000 a month, that’s $100,000-$120,000 a year, that’s expensive care,” Carroll says.

The survey questioned around 600 Iowans, all older than 50. AARP Iowa also released a statement which: “urges Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Joni Ernst to oppose any bill that would raise premiums, price people with preexisting conditions out of coverage, weaken Medicare, and make cuts to Medicaid that would reduce services for those most in need.”